Congress Asked Clinton About Emails in 2012

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WASHINGTON -- Congressional investigators asked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with 17 other Cabinet secretaries, whether she used a personal email in 2012, a question she reportedly ignored.

Clinton's email practices have come under sharp scrutiny in the wake of the revelation that she exclusively used a private domain name and server to conduct public business while at State.

The question came in a Dec. 13, 2012, letter, obtained by CNN and first reported by the New York Times, from Rep. Darrell Issa, then-chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to an array of Cabinet secretaries. It was part of an investigation into the email policies and procedures imposed by the Obama administration on its officials.

"Have you or any senior agency official ever used a personal email account to conduct official business?" Issa wrote in the form letter. "If so, please identify the account used."

The letter also asked if the officials used text messages or an alias e-mail account to conduct official business, and requested that the officials outline any policies for record retention across email and social networking sites.

Issa received no response from Clinton directly, and the State Department's only response was to send an outline of the department's email policies more than three months later.

A Clinton aide said in a statement Tuesday given to the Times "her usage was widely known to the over 100 department and U.S. government colleagues she emailed, as her address was visible on every email she sent."